Thank the gods for small favors.

By the end of the week, Kakashi is back on his feet. Of course, this mean Zabuza has likely recovered from his brush with death as well. It's going to be all hands on deck at the bridge today.

"We should at least leave some Naruto clones at the house. Head off Gatou trying to take hostages."

"Good idea. Make it happen."

He talks to Naruto about leaving a guard, and then soon enough they're ready.

Off to the bridge. Chihiro fades out of view before they leave the house.

When they get there with Tazuna, there's no sign of the workers.

"They're already here," Kakashi says. "Be ready."

Sugira had decided that they're likely enough for a confrontation that he should burn his scrolls, so he reinforced everyone with Mage Armor - invisible forcefields that'll interfere with their enemy's attacks but not their own. They're not perfect, and won't stop Zabuza from taking down the not-Kakashis, but they might make the difference against any allies.

Here and now, he pulls out a scroll of Illusion of Calm.

A thick mist creeps in quickly, filled with ill intent.

     "Here we are again, Kakashi. Misplaced one of your brats, have you?" a voice whispers out of the mist. It bounces around, as though it's coming from multiple sources. It's just barely possible to make out hidden figures rising all around them.

"I wouldn't say misplaced," Kakashi says calmly. "Chihiro?"

There's a blur of movement and a quick succession of splashes. Chihiro shimmers into visibility in front of the group, knifeblades dripping water.

Kakashi flashes though a quick series of seals and a burst of wind pushes the mist off, revealing Zabuza and the hunter-nin standing together, blocking exit from the bridge.

"I'll tell you this, Zabuza. I don't fall for the same trick more than once."

Naruto creates a few versions of him around Tazuna.

Sugira quietly puts a second, movable forcefield around himself - the Shield spell. (His ideal position here is likely backing Chihiro up against the masked one, or protecting Tazuna.)

"They have teeth, eh Haku?" Zabuza says to his companion.

     "Master Zabuza," the masked nin says, "please allow me to face the younger ones in your stead. Save your strength for Hatake."

"This will be a good test for you, Haku. Go!" Haku, it turns out, is very fast.

But his destination is known and there's really only one path they are going to take.

Chihiro interrupts him, blade catching on the senbon they holds in their fist.

Sugira casts Expeditious Retreat on himself. Then blurred movement, then he'll start looking for openings to join Chihiro's fight. 

"Naruto, you'll be best at keeping Tazuna safe. Don't worry about us."

"Right." His grip tightens on his kunai; he doesn't like that, but...

Haku runs through some handseals, and the nearby puddles left over from the clones rises to form needles which fire at Chihiro. She manages to escape with only scratches, then recloses the distance to Haku.

They hold against both Chihiro and Sasuke for a time, but are soon pushed back to Zabuza's side where they started.

"Time to stop playing with you food," Zabuza says.

     "Yes, master." The air gets suddenly colder.

Unfortunately he hasn't figured out fireball yet. Now would be a good time for that. 

His best counter is True Strike followed by a terrifyingly accurate kunai. (Aimed for center mass; shouldn't kill the masked one, but might disrupt...) (His entire spell list today is four copies of True Strike; he's using scrolls for everything else, including his daily mental defenses, though he plans to use his flexible space for Shocking Grasp).

The kunai is blocked by a thin sheet of ice, polished as a mirror, appearing from nowhere. Other mirrors appear all around Chihiro and Sasuke, and Haku's reflection fades into each one.

"Ice release," Chihiro says, moving into a defensive position at Sasuke's back. "A bloodline limit."

He nods.

He doesn't have a good way to hit multiple locations at once.

But he's currently hard to hit, extremely mobile, and not using chakra - even if he runs out of scrolls and ranged weapons there's a good chance he'll be able to outlast their opponent, since he can spam weaker cantrips all day.

"Your show."

Whatever she's about to say is interrupted by a hail of senbon from all directions.

"From here, there is no escape," Haku says. "I have you surrounded. All you can do is die."

"Not clones," whispers Chihiro. "He is- moving. Too fast."

Bouncing between mirrors then?

Unfortunately Sugira can't just stack his speed spell ten times...

But True Strike is divination. Doesn't matter how fast his opponent moves if Sugira knows where they're going, and at the very least making more mirrors should tire them out - especially since the senbon hail let up at all, it's not the type of thing they can do indefinitely...

He casts Illusion of Calm, and then it's time to start doing his best to spam True Strike and assorted ranged attacks.